2017 January

2017 January Newsletter Articles

2017 Resolutions

My colleague, MaryBeth Davison Smith connected many of our ideas of the New Year with the ways of growth and accomplishment in the Feldenkrais Method:

Many people begin a new year with big plans. In true Feldenkrais fashion, though, I would encourage you to make a small plan. Something very modest. Something you are pretty sure you can accomplish within a couple of weeks: small-ish. Perhaps

Become a Super Ager

(From NYTimes, Dec 31, 2016) Think about the people in your life who are 65 or older. Some of them are experiencing the usual mental difficulties of old age, like forgetfulness or a dwindling attention span. Yet others somehow manage to remain mentally sharp. My father-in-law, a retired doctor, is 83 and he still edits books and runs several medical websites.

Why do some older people remain mentally nimble while others decline? “Superagers” (a term coined by the neurologist Marsel Mesulam) are those whose memory and attention isn’t merely above average for their age, but is actually on par with healthy, active 25-year-olds.

Improve the Flexibility in your Knees

Sandra Bradshaw writes,

If You Can’t Bend Your Knees You’re Hooped

Winter sports such as skiing, snowboarding, curling, ice skating and skiing all require soft knees. To walk safely on ice your also need soft knees to place your feet firmly on the ground. If you suffer from arthritis knees often take a hit as both standing and walking become laborious.

It Matters Why it Works

Todd Hargrove asks, "Why exactly does someone feel better after massage? Or acupuncture? Or foam rolling? Or a chiropractic adjustment, or wearing K-tape, or doing mobility drills, or a hamstring stretch?"

Through one movement, we change many things

Master Feldenkrais teacher, Mia Segal, shares her teaching of a short lesson which provides delightful changes in only 11 minutes. This was taught to a group of people which allows you to see the varieties of ways that people interpreted the same directions.

Daily Lessons

Holding on, When its time has passed

A recent commercial highlights how we hold on to things, and our difficulty in letting go: A skydiving woman holding a sewing machine. It is an outrageous thought. And yet we all hold on to things long past our need for them, even in situations where holding them is potentially risky. Further, it is also very difficult to even consider letting them go. A delightful video! Of course, there is an app that "makes it easy". Maybe in the real world, the Feldenkrais Method is the "app".

Introduction to the Method - Chicago

Myra Ping, a Feldenkrais practitioner in Chicago, says that when teens and adults come to her they often describe having a problem moving one part of their body, sometimes accompanied by pain. “The traditional medical model looks directly at the area that the individual perceives as the problem, while Feldenkrais work is a whole-body experience,” she says. “The root of the movement dysfunction, such as a stiff neck, may come from the way the person is positioning their whole trunk or the way they are sitting on their pelvis or the way they are positioning their knees when they are standing.”

She explains that Feldenkrais work helps to peel away the layers of restricted movement habits that have come as a result of injury, illness or the emotional or physical stresses of everyday life so that people can move more freely and with a sense of wonder, the way they did as a young children.